


boyfriends (plural?)

by justadreamfox



Series: AFTG Bingo 2020 [2]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: AFTG Bingo 2020, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Demisexual Neil Josten, Fluff, Kandreil - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Prompt: roommates/housemates, THEY DESERVE IT, andrew might be a little OOC, but to be fair i write these boys soft, fluffly cupcake fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:15:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25158346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justadreamfox/pseuds/justadreamfox
Summary: Andrew lets Aaron pick his roommates while he is out of the country and he comes back to two very sexy, very interesting guys living in his house.Sometimes it’s hard to be gay.AKA some more kandreil for y'all, cause I'm me.
Relationships: Kevin Day/Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: AFTG Bingo 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1817062
Comments: 40
Kudos: 352
Collections: AFTG Bingo Blackout 2020 - Cupcakes, All For The Game Bingo 2020





	boyfriends (plural?)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks and love to my beta [makebelieveanything](https://archiveofourown.org/users/makebelieveanything/).
> 
> This is part of AFTG Bingo 2020, and also part of the Fluffy Cupcake Club's bingo blackout collaboration.

Propped upside down on the cedarwood lounge chair (one of his five most prized possessions), Andrew closed his eyes and carefully blew out the biggest bubble that he could manage before it popped dramatically, sticky gum attaching itself to his nose and chin. He scraped it off and shoved it back into his mouth to start the process all over again. 

It was hot and humid in his backyard - South Carolina in the summer was like living inside a can of soup - but despite his rather fair skin and ash blond hair, Andrew loved the languid warmth of it. Well, he loved it as long as the sun wasn’t beating directly down on his face (hence the giant Sunbrella shading him - another of his most prized possessions). 

He crossed his legs lazily, his shorts riding up his thighs, and adjusted the tank top pillowed under his head before closing his eyes. He’d abandoned his shirt a while ago, giving the heat more access to his skin, letting it sink into his bones. 

Ten years ago he wouldn’t have lain here mostly bare to the world, but a lot could change in ten years. A series of pretty decent relationships in his undergrad years along with the decision to tattoo a veritable garden of flowers and birds and bumblebees onto his arms (obscuring the scars of his childhood) had gone a long way to easing Andrew into comfort within his own skin. The several hours he spent each day in the gym didn’t hurt either, and his abs and biceps were epic (pint-a-day ice cream habit notwithstanding). 

“DREW!” Neil yelled out the back door, startling Andrew from his almost-sleep. “Get in here, Kev’s about to make dinner.”

Horrified and suddenly very awake, Andrew jumped up, shrugging into his shirt as he headed for the house. He breezed past Neil as he was holding the door open for him, his sweaty shoulder brushing against his roommate. 

Ignoring _that_ for now. (Ignoring _that_ like always.) 

Kevin already had his hand on a pan and was getting ready to turn the stove on. “Kevin, no.”

“What?” Kevin blinked at him innocently.

“You are still banned from making dinner.”

“Seriously?” Kevin sputtered. “That was like...weeks ago!”

“Yes and I still haven’t recovered.”

“Oh my god Andrew, you’re such a drama queen.”  
  
“Sure am,” Andrew agreed, ”and I am not eating kale and rice and tofu or what the fuck ever you have planned for dinner tonight.”

Neil snickered behind him, and Kevin brandished the frying pan at him. “Traitor,” he declared.

“I can’t be a traitor if I was never on your side,” Neil grinned. 

“Okay so anyway,” Andrew interrupted. “We’re going out for dinner. It’s the first Friday night of summer for fuck's sake. I want a fruity cocktail. With an umbrella.”

“You are so gay,” Kevin said fondly. 

“Yup,” Andrew agreed, flipping him off. “We’re hitting up the patio at The Borough - Kevin, dress Neil.”

“Hey!” Neil protested. 

Andrew raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, giving Neil a very obvious once over. He was wearing ratty basketball shorts and a tie-dyed shirt that was three sizes too big for him and clashed with his hair. “I saved you from kale, you have to put on big boy clothes in repayment.”

Neil glared back at him. “Okay fine, but you’re buying dinner then.”

“Fine. But you have to wear the shirt with the lilac flowers on it and shorts that don’t have an elastic waistband.”

Neil turned a puzzled look to Kevin. “What the fuck is lilac?”

“The purple flowered one that you hate,” Kevin clarified for him.

“Oh Drew, no, I hate that one, it’s too tight.”

“It makes your eyes pop,” Andrew deadpanned like he was kidding (he wasn’t kidding). 

“Fine, but then I get to drive your car too.”

Andrew shrugged. “I plan on getting drunk on fruity drinks anyway.” 

Ten minutes later Andrew was tossing the keys to Neil and ushering them all out the door. Neil’s ass looked amazing in the burgundy shorts that Kevin had cajoled him into wearing with the lilac floral shirt. Kevin - who had enough of an aesthetic eye to actually dress himself - looked good enough to eat in a snug black t-shirt, bright pink shorts and artfully tousled hair. Andrew slid his aviators down over his eyes and turned to take a calming breath as he locked the door behind them. 

Andrew’s roommates (correction, his best friends) were the hottest two guys he’d ever seen.

He was also head over heels in love with the both of them, and he was never - _ever_ \- going to do anything about it. 

***

It was all Aaron’s fault, really. 

Andrew had finished his undergraduate degree at Clemson and accepted a full ride to stick around the English department and start on his PhD. Since Aaron was heading off to med school in Chicago, and Nicky was moving to Germany with Erik, they had all agreed that Andrew should keep the house, but that meant he’d need roommates - full ride or not, he couldn’t manage the mortgage on his own. 

Renee and Allison had initially planned to move in for at least the first year, but Renee joined the Peace Corps instead, and Allison moved to New York - no reason to stay in South Carolina without her girlfriend there. Andrew had suddenly found himself with no roommates and no time to find new ones before he left for his summer fellowship at Oxford University. Aaron had offered to stay and sort it out, and Andrew had little choice but to let him - surely Aaron could manage to do this one thing. 

Andrew didn’t know how truly wrong he could be about something until he got home from England and met Neil and Kevin. 

Andrew had barely managed a _hello-nice-to-meet-you_ to each of them before hiding away in his room and calling his twin.

“What the everloving fuck Aaron?”

“Uh, welcome back to the States?”

“Do you even know that I am gay? Like very gay?”

Aaron snorted, “Of course I do, don’t make me remind you of how many times I walked in on-”

“Stop,” Andrew interrupted him. “Who are these two gorgeous men in my house?”

“Our house.”

“Whatever - are you trying to kill me?”

“Don’t be dramatic. Shouldn’t you be thanking me?”

“Fuck. What was I thinking leaving the straightest person I know to find me roommates.”

“That’s a bit of an overstatement.”

Andrew snorted, “Yeah, okay.”

“Yeah okay yourself. I’ve kissed a dude.”

“You have not.”

“Have. Remember Seth? Freshman year?”

“You did not.”

“Did. Twice.”

“I hate you.”

“You don’t.”

“I have to go.”

“Well bye then - enjoy the roommates.”

Andrew had hung up before he’d realized he’d actually let Aaron have the last word. 

***

It was one thing to recognize that his roommates were hot - Neil with that ridiculous auburn hair, arctic blue eyes and cheekbones for days; Kevin who was all long legs and defined abs, with the greenest eyes and the fullest lips.

It was quite another when Andrew realized they were interesting. 

With Neil it was a combination of cluelessness and sass and a gaze that could stare right through to your soul. He was like a mad scientist, scribbling away at his math equations, hair sticking up in all directions, with a mouth ready to fight, and a penchant for propping his feet in Andrew’s lap or falling asleep on Kevin’s shoulder mid-sentence. He spoke five languages, had never seen any movies, and had no idea how utterly adorable he was.

With Kevin it was intensity and earnestness and a wry sense of humor that snuck up on you. He was studying some obscure Irish history, but seemed to know everything about all history everywhere and read more voraciously than Andrew did (the three of them were an unbeatable trivia team). Kevin was fiercely protective, wickedly sensual, and he had a habit of absentmindedly tracing the tattoos on Andrew’s arms with one finger when they piled onto the couch and forced Neil to watch movies. 

It helped (well not really, but he pretended it did) that Andrew knew nothing would ever happen with either of them - Kevin because he seemed to have no interest in a monogamous relationship and Neil because, well, Neil didn’t swing at all. 

And even if those two things hadn’t been true, it wasn’t just one of them that he’d fallen for was it?

It had been 3am at the library one night, in the first semester of living together. Neil yawning epically, half slumped in his chair with his feet propped up in Andrew’s lap and Kevin’s phone buzzing off the hook. 

“God Kev,” Neil mumbled. “It’s too late for a booty call isn’t it? Even for you.” 

“Never too late for a booty call,” Kevin responded seriously. 

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t find the need to find fulfillment in the arms of a different girl every night,” Neil quipped back.

“Girl?” Andrew asked. His mental radar had already categorized Kevin as gay, so this concept was sending his signals haywire. 

Kevin shrugged, tapping away on his phone, “Girl, guy, whatever. I like all the things.” He frowned a little and then looked up. “That’s not a problem is it?” he asked, as if he was suddenly aware that homophobia still existed. 

Andrew rolled his eyes. “If you haven’t figured out yet how very gay I am then your queer-dar is irrevocably broken.” 

Neil was quiet and had somehow managed to slump even further down in his seat. Andrew and Kevin were both staring at him now. “What?” he asked. 

Kevin grinned, “We showed you ours, now…?” 

“Oh, yeah,” Neil started blushing. “Um, I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I’ve never.” If possible his blush deepend. 

“Never what Neil?” Andrew asked.

“Never anything. I’m not interested.”

Kevin was staring at him like he was an alien. “What?”

Andrew had taken pity on Neil (and himself) and changed the subject.

A year later and Neil still hadn’t dated anyone and Kevin had slept with half of their mutual friends.

A year later, and all Andrew knew was that he couldn’t live without them, and he wouldn’t do anything to risk losing them. 

***

The restaurant was packed - first Friday of the summer and all - but Andrew had called ahead and Roland had reserved their usual table in the back corner of the patio. Roland had been one of those pretty decent relationships Andrew had in his undergrad years, and their amicable split and subsequent friendship had its perks. 

Since the three of them were sticking around campus this summer working on various stages of dissertation research, a decent seat at the Borough (the local restaurant and watering hole for the queer crowd) was necessary. Andrew was satisfied to see that the Sunbrella over their table was open and tilted perfectly to block the sun from his seat, and he plopped down with a contented sigh, Kevin on his right and Neil on his left. 

Neil promptly scattered his papers across the table - math equations that he toted around and scribbled on when new directions of attack popped into his head (adorable fact number four hundred and twelve about Neil). Kevin propped his long legs up in the fourth chair across from them as Roland took their order. 

“I’ll have a Mai Tai,” Andrew drawled, tilting his aviators up briefly before dropping them back down on his nose. 

“A Mai Tai,” Roland repeated dubiously. “Do you even know what that is?”

“Nope,” Andrew said cheerfully. “Just that it comes with a little umbrella in it.”

Roland chuckled. “Yep, it does. Okay then, and I’m assuming a vodka soda for Kevin, and Neil - we drinking or not drinking today?”

“Unsweet tea,” Neil mumbled, not looking up from the equation he was reworking. 

“Not drinking, got it,” Roland nodded before bustling off to the bar. 

Andrew reached over to flick Neil’s forehead gently. “Put that away junkie, it’s the first week of summer break. You have months to obsess.”

Neil glanced up sheepishly before folding the paper up and tucking it up under the edge of his placemat. “And what exactly are we going to do instead - talk to people?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Andrew scoffed. “Kevin?”

Kevin grinned and reached into his messenger bag to pull out their well-worn Scrabble board. “Winner gets to pick what we order for dinner.”

“Yeah, I see no way this could go poorly,” Neil said. 

Andrew tsked at him. “Strategy Neil - they don’t serve kale or tofu here. Plus, we’re going to win and order cheese fries.”

“Hey, no ganging up you traitors!” Kevin protested. 

“Can’t be a traitor if we were never on your side,” Andrew smirked.

“Get your own comeback, thief,” Neil snarked as he started flipping over the tiles for them to draw. “If I win we’re having grilled cheeses.”

“And cheese fries,” Andrew added. 

“Obviously,” Neil agreed. 

“I hate you both,” Kevin groaned as he pulled a Z tile, ensuring he went last. 

Three Mai Tais later, Andrew played his last two tiles, triumphantly winning the game and declaring cheese _everything_ for dinner. Kevin sucked down the end of his fourth vodka soda and whined about adding a salad to the order, his light pink Wayfarers dropped low on his nose as he pleaded with grass-green eyes and one dimple showing, and Neil finally compromised on brussel sprouts. 

Andrew rolled his eyes. “You can’t agree to a compromise on my behalf.” 

Neil kicked him under the table. “I helped you win, I set you up for all the good plays.” 

He wasn’t wrong. “Pushover,” Andrew grumbled. 

“What? How can you say no to this face?” Neil stood up and reached over and grabbed Kevin’s chin, turning his face more towards Andrew, and Kevin pouted teasingly. 

Andrew snorted. “Easily. Telling Kevin no is one of my greatest joys in life.” 

It was meant to be a joke. It wasn’t the first time he’d said that, was it? 

But the light in Kevin’s eyes dimmed, and he froze for just a moment before he laughed awkwardly and shrugged. Neil pulled his hand back but he didn’t sit back down, watching Kevin’s face intently before turning a considering gaze on Andrew. 

Before Andrew could say anything Kevin jumped up, shoved his sunglasses back up his nose and announced that he was going to the bathroom. 

Andrew - who generally considered himself to be quite observant - was flummoxed. “What the fuck just happened?” he asked Neil. 

Neil settled back in his seat, tracking Kevin’s progress across the room with his eyes. Neil was quiet. (Neil was never quiet.)

“Neil,” Andrew said warningly.

“Hmmm?” he said, not looking at Andrew. 

“You know something.” 

Neil nodded slowly. “Have you noticed that Kev stopped going on booty calls? I don’t think he’s hooked up with anyone for months.”

“So?” Andrew prompted. 

“So I think that...” Neil trailed off, his gaze snagging across the room and Andrew looked up to see Kevin weaving towards them with another round of drinks. He crashed back into his chair, straw already in his mouth, his easy grin back in place. 

“I had a brilliant idea while I was peeing!” he announced. “Let’s get dinner to go and go home and play Mario Kart! I already put our order in at the bar with Roland - he said it’ll be ready in ten.” 

God it was tempting, so tempting to just drop it. But Andrew didn’t do secrets. Secrets could ruin everything, and something was wrong. He sighed. “Okay Kevin, spill.”

Kevin stared at him for a minute, his grin slowly fading before he turned a betrayed gaze on Neil. “What did you tell him?”

“I didn’t,” Neil protested. “But you should.”

Kevin sighed. “Okay, but not here.”

“Fine,” Andrew said, standing up and herding them both to the bar with their drinks. He was anxious now, and there was no way he was going to sit here for the next ten minutes. He ordered two tequila shots and he and Kevin downed them before paying their bill and grabbing their take out (Kevin had snuck an order for salad in with the cheese fries and grilled cheese, sneaky bastard).  
  
The car ride was quiet and tense, Neil sneaking looks at both of them as he competently drove ten miles over the speed limit to get them home. 

Andrew was over it the moment they set foot on the porch. Whatever this was he would fix it - even if he had to apologize for some stupid thing he said. He put his back to the front door, crossing his arms over his chest. “Tell me,” he commanded. 

“I’m in love with you,” Kevin blurted out. 

Andrew faltered. This was not what he was expecting. “No you aren’t,” he said reflexively, because this couldn’t be happening. 

“You don’t get to decide that,” Kevin said softly, taking a step closer to him. Neil was standing quietly to the side, the bags of food in hand. 

“You knew about this?” Andrew asked him.

Neil shrugged. “I figured it out. He’s not very subtle.”

“Thank you so much,” Kevin muttered without heat, running a hand through his hair.

“Kevin,” Andrew said, closing his eyes for a moment. “What about Neil.” It wasn’t a question, it didn’t need to be a question.

Kevin stared at him. 

Neil looked startled. 

“That’s not an answer,” Kevin said. He took another step closer. “Do you feel the same way Andrew?” 

Kevin always had been the brave one, the earnest one. Neil stood his ground next to them, steady as a rock, his gaze flicking back and forth between their faces and really that’s how it always was, wasn’t it? There was never any way this conversation wouldn’t include all three of them, and that right there was the problem. 

“Ask Neil if I feel the same way,” Andrew finally said.

Kevin turned to Neil and raised an eyebrow.

“Obviously he does,” Neil said.

“Obviously,” Andrew repeated softly. “Neil, you see _everything_ except when it’s about you.

Neil frowned. “How is this about me?”

“I’m not going to date just one of you,” Andrew said.

“What do you mean just one of us?” Kevin asked carefully.

Andrew sighed. “Do you really want to do this right now?”

“Drew-,” Neil started.

“Let it go,” Andrew interrupted him gently. _God_ he wasn’t ready for this conversation. “I’ve been drinking, Kevin’s been drinking, and you don’t swing, remember? I’m not- ” he stopped himself. Blew out a breath. 

Fuck it. He might as well get this over with. 

“Of course I feel the same way Kevin. I feel the same way about both of you. You _and_ Neil. But I’m not willing to lose either one of you. There is no way forward for two of us that doesn’t leave a third behind.”

“But-” Kevin started, and Andrew interrupted with his hand held up. 

“Andrew-” Neil tried again, a stunned look on his face. Andrew pointed a finger at him. He must look like a goddamned traffic cop - palm up at Kevin, index finger pinning Neil to the spot.

“Let it go,” he said. He was tired. And maybe a little drunk. He snagged the container of cheese fries out of Neil’s hand, unlocked the front door, and then turned around again. 

“We can just pretend this conversation didn’t happen. Keep the status quo. So goodnight, okay?” He gave a poor approximation of a smile and then retreated to his bedroom, ate the entire container of cheese fries, and passed out. 

***

Andrew had maybe - _maybe_ \- had one too many Mai Tais last night, but several slices of cinnamon toast and copious amounts of Gatorade coupled with an hour laid out on his lounge chair seemed to be doing the trick. He stretched lazily, content to waste his entire Saturday reading a novel that had absolutely nothing to do with his research - there were sword fights and dragons and magic and all the things he’d never admit to being obsessed with in front of his colleagues. 

He absolutely was not going to think about what happened last night. 

“ANDREW!” Kevin yelled out the back door. Andrew looked up from his novel to see Kevin towing Neil by the wrist across the lawn towards him. Kevin had a huge grin on his face and Neil was blushing furiously, but following willingly enough. They skidded to a halt right next to Andrew’s chair and he blinked up at the pair of them. 

“It’s too early for kale, Kevin,” he deadpanned. 

“I want you to kiss Neil,” Kevin said, at the exact same time that Neil said, “I kissed Kevin.” 

Andrew froze, trying to untangle the words. Maybe the heat had gone to his brain, fried it up like an egg. There was no way he heard what he just heard. 

He sat up slowly, took off his aviators, tossed them aside with the novel. Kevin and Neil were still standing over him - grinning and blushing respectively - but he didn’t quite trust his legs to hold him up if he stood. So he stayed sitting. “What?” he said stupidly.

“Okay so, last night you said Neil doesn’t swing? After you went to bed I trounced him in Mario Kart.”  
  
“Relevance, Kevin,” Andrew managed.

“Right, so after I trounced him we were talking, you know, just about things, and we got the laptop out to look some stuff up, and basically, Neil is demisexual,” Kevin finished triumphantly.

“What?” Andrew said again, possibly sounding stupider than before. 

“Demisexual,” Neil said this time. “Like, I’m not attracted to anyone until I really get to know them.”

“So you kissed Kevin,” Andrew said blankly. 

“Drew,” Neil said, softly, his sharp eyes on his. Andrew wished he hadn’t taken his sunglasses off, wished he was hiding behind the darkened frames. He was forgetting something, felt like he was falling. Maybe he should stand up. Suddenly he realized Kevin was snapping his fingers in front of his face. He batted him away. 

“What?” he said a third time. He needed to get away from this. Neil had kissed Kevin, Kevin had kissed Neil.

“Will you kiss me?” Neil said. Oh. Right. That was the second part. His brain stuttered to a halt again. 

“What?” He said a fourth time, and at least had the good grace to wince at his own idiocy.

Kevin sighed. “Try to keep up would you?” Andrew glared at him for that, but Kevin ploughed on. “Neil is demisexual, which means he is only attracted to people when he gets to know them. Andrew, he is attracted to _both_ of us.” 

Neil stepped towards him. “You said last night you feel the same way about both of us. It played over and over again in my head. I realized that I think about you and Kevin in a way that I’ve never…” 

Neil trailed off because Andrew had finally caught on, had finally stood up, slid his palm along Neil’s cheek, tucked his fingers behind his ear and pulled him down into a kiss. 

He wanted to be gentle. 

He wanted to go slow. 

But Andrew had _wanted_ this for so fucking long, and Neil’s lips parted immediately, and his head tilted just so under Andrew’s hand; it was hot and achingly soft, so instead he wrapped his arm around Neil and pulled him in close, deepening the kiss until he thought they might drown together. 

Fighting his way back up for air Andrew broke it off and took a shuddering breath. “Fuck Neil, I thought you hadn’t done that before.” 

Neil was flushed and his mouth was wet and he grinned. “I was just practicing about ten minutes ago.” 

“Quick learner,” Andrew said drily. 

Neil’s grin widened. “Well I _am_ doing a PhD in Mathematics.” 

Andrew’s fingers were still tucked into Neil’s overlong auburn curls and he gave them a tug for that sass. 

“Andrew,” Kevin said, stealing his attention. Andrew realized then that Kevin was still holding Neil’s hand, had been the whole time. 

Neil shoved him a little. “Don’t you want to kiss Kevin too?” 

“Fuck yes I do,” Andrew said, and with no hesitation he jumped up to stand on the loungechair, the extra foot putting him level with Kevin. Kevin started to laugh, but then Andrew snagged the front of his shirt, reeling him in for a bruising kiss, effectively smothering any and all laughter and turning it to fire. 

***

Three months later Andrew figured it was finally time. He sprawled out on his bed (it was _their_ bed now, him and Kevin and Neil) and called Aaron.

“Sup nerd?” Aaron answered.

“Who are you calling a nerd?”

“Andrew, you have literally attended a Renaissance Faire. More than once.”

“Shut up. You went with me.”

“They have giant turkey legs, how could I resist?”

“Whatever, you also speak Klingon,” Andrew scoffed.

“Did you just call me to be an asshole?”

“No. I called you to say thank you.”

“Do _what_ now?”

“Thank you, Aaron.”

“Um, you’re welcome?”

“Come home for Thanksgiving. I want you to meet Kevin and Neil.”

“Your roommates? I’ve met them, remember?”

“Not my roommates, my boyfriends.”

Andrew could almost hear Aaron’s brain working to make sense of that. “Boyfriends…plural. Both of them?”

“Yep,” Andrew agreed.

“Did you do this just so you can out-gay me since I kissed Seth?

“No.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah. So. Thank you Aaron.” 

“Oh. Well. You’re welcome Andrew.”

Andrew hung up with a small smile on his face, and he closed his eyes for just a moment to take it all in. There was one week of summer left, fall semester would start soon, and he was going to take advantage of every sun-filled moment of the next seven days. He rolled off the bed to go find his ~~roommates~~ ... ~~best friends~~ ... boyfriends (yeah that's it) . 

It was definitely time for a pina colada. 

Or maybe a mojito? 

Whatever, as long as it had a little umbrella in it.

**Author's Note:**

> hit me up on tumblr @ [justadreamfox](https://justadreamfox.tumblr.com/)


End file.
